chitownsportsfan

[a meeting is assembled between JR and his fan marketing team of Dick Allen, and SouthSider2k] JR: "boys, what can we do to improve attendance?" Dick: "we already do more to sell tickets than anyone else" JR: "sorry Dick, wrong answer, you're fired"." JR: "how about you SouthSider2k, what say you?" SouthSider2K: "we need to bump payroll into the top 1/4 then maybe we can spend enough to win another world series, then those fickle fans will come out" JR: "wrong answer, you're also fired". Brooks Boyer enters the room carried on his litter after 25 years of loyal service to JR, the number proudly hangs from the side in big bold letters Brooks: "you fired those guys right?" JR: "yea, I did, you got any better ideas" Brooks: "nah, I already came up with the Shark Tank, that's enough right?" JR: "yep, you're right, thanks for your loyal 25 years with the Bulls and Sox and GO Irish!." Brooks Boyer just nods and his litter carries him out, business as usual continues at White Sox HQ

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ May 22, 2015 -> 12:49 PM) No team tries harder to sell tickets than the White Sox. You're right, for example, not many teams have moles like you that are on the payroll and blow the sunshine on the fan message boards. I'm only half kidding. Is there anything about how the Sox go about their business you'd change?

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 22, 2015 -> 12:30 PM) Comparing our attendance to that of Detroit does nothing to add to what we are talking about here about our attendance problems. And apparently you are not reading anything that doesn't fit your own pre-set agenda, either, which is to blame attendance on fans making excuses, because you were asked to back that claim up with evidence and you didn't. Whatever. In the meantime, we agree to disagree. The club has a very bad attendance problem. I optimistically suggest that would be fixed over time with more sustained winning. That's what I believe to be true. You don't agree, which is fine, and I don't care if you do or not. You're entitled to your opinion. But if what you say is, in fact, true, that sustained winning won't solve the problem, and you are convinced the "small bandwagon" fan base just won't show up for one excuse or another, then Mr. Reinsdorf ought to think about selling the current ballpark that seats 40,000 and building one that only seats 20,000, because to your way of thinking, that's all he'll ever need. If the fanbase is small, how about trying to grow it bigger? Winning helps, but there is much more marketing that can be done.The Sox marketing is awful, I'll say it again. When is the last time the Sox made national headlines for any sort of marketing ploy, failed or otherwise? We don't need a "disco demolition night" but how about a social media account that actually stirs the drink a little? How about they market more to the hispanic audience in Chicago? They have quite a few Spanish speaking players. In fact, they should have an entire division of the marketing department dedicated to spanish language promos. The Sox are a stale brand with stale ownership imo. JR has been slowly losing influence in MLB and his club hasn't been consistently entertaining for almost 30 years. I am lucky to have grown up in the "good guys wear black" years with Robin, Frank, Blackjack, Alvarez and the rest of the crew. Those teams didn't win a ton, but they were competitive and exciting and young. Kids younger than 15 don't know s*** about the Sox except that they are usually filled with declining vets and don't win much more than 85 games. Team needs a reboot from the top down.

QUOTE (pettie4sox @ May 22, 2015 -> 12:24 PM) Salazar had no fear against our best hitters. He just went after them and they had no answer. He was nasty at times and the few times he got behind in counts the Sox got antsy and bailed him out. Cleveland has some nasty starters. The Sox needed to win the other games in the series when they had the pitching advantage on paper. Danks verse Salazar isn't fair.

Lloyd McClendon had a great quote today about how his guys are pressing and it's leading to them swinging at pitches out of the zone and how he's been emphasizing "take your walks" all week. We'll see if his message gets through to the Mariners but the Sox would do well to consider similar advice. I will say that I thought Jose and Avi got "aced" a couple of times last night with RISP, and there wasn't much they could have done to work a better count. But there were certainly other opportunities this season where it made sense to take a few freaking pitches with a wild pitcher on the mound.

I will say that I liked every signing at first blush except the LaRoche signing. Then I talked myself into it. Well, so far, he's looking like a bust and a lot of it is the Sox refusal to bench him against most LHP and play him moreso than Jose at 1B. He should be playing 1B 100 games and Jose 62, instead it's going to be like Jose 120 and LaRoche 42.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2015 -> 09:48 PM) Not including LaRoche, the Sox have one player in the top 18 at their position in terms of WAR. I would put this right up there with the Adam Dunn experience as one of those things you literally (and I do mean literally) think could never, ever happen -- and yet here we are. I guess if you roll the dice enough times you'll see about everthing but if this was my OOTP team I'd be rage quitting. It's unfathomable.

QUOTE (fathom @ May 21, 2015 -> 07:58 PM) He has to be one of, if not the worst, pitchers in the AL since he signed his extension Wow you have to pay for the finder on B-Ref? I was going to run a search for it. I'm sure he's right there and could possibly be the worst qualified FIP and xFIP. He's certainly close to the bottom in ERA and ERA+ as well.

I swear to god there's something rotten on the South Side. I have never seen a team field so many players THAT AREN'T EVEN REPLACEMENT. You sign Melky, below replacement 40 games, go figure. You bring up your young exciting 2B, below replacement. His replacement so far? Below replacement. Your SS? Well below replacement. Adam Eaton, below replacement. Catcher? He, don't make me laugh. WTF MAN. I think the Sox may have to redefine their version of raplacement because they can't find any FOR s***.

QUOTE (Thad Bosley @ May 21, 2015 -> 09:27 PM) I could not agree more. This franchise is sorely in need of that new vision you mentioned, a house cleaning, as you suggested, and an overall new strategy. What Reinsdorf has employed during the last 35 years just hasn't worked, it's left our fan base dormant, and completely wasted the potential of a big market ball club. I think many Bulls fans will tell you the same thing. The org has become stale.

fml

Oh joy a hand issue for Abreu.

how about with a jose abreu 3 run hr?

how will this rally fizzle out?

When the best thing that can be said about a starter is that he'll hang in there after he gives up 3-5 runs in the first inning, well, it's time to put him out to pasture.

QUOTE (caulfield12 @ May 21, 2015 -> 08:56 PM) The other bad aspect of this is pulling the Indians right back into the race. If this score holds up, the Indians will only be two games out of 4th and some badly needed forward momentum. Conversely, if the White Sox had gone 3-1 or 4-0 against them, they would have been 10-12 games under .500 and pretty much out of it. Yea it sucks.

walk the bases loaded please.

Sox should have made a move for Castillo is the price was a nothing special reliever. Flowers is killing them.

Hey look all the problems from the first three weeks are back!

Put in hector seriously it can't be any worse.

This guy has great stuff. After last night they won't have a chance.

hard to win with this level of production from the lineup. Not making enough good contact.

Can only shake your head. Is anyone ever going to address the fact that John Danks is a sunk cost?

Looks like a classic Danks crooked number here.

There is no consistency night to night in the zone.